Theories of intercultural education by Joseba Arregi, Asier Barandiaran, Dmitrii Enygin, Venera Midova (great novels of all time txt) 📕

This section highlights the key elements and meta-competences that define intercultural learning, acknowledg- ing at the same time that intercultural learning needs to be contextualised and adapted for the needs of the young people educators work with. Intercultural learning requires dedication, consistency, curiosity and respect for human dignity.

First and foremost, intercultural learning is an educational approach aiming at the development of individuals’ willingness and ability to live together in diverse societies. It is a holistic and transversal educational philosophy guiding choices made in planning training programmes. It is a lifelong process.

Intercultural learning intersects with education for democratic citizenship, human rights education, conflict transformation and global education; it contributes to the promotion and respect of human rights for all, majorities and minorities; it leads to a deep understanding of the fact that equal opportunities do not mean favouritism, but instead a process that aims to reduce injustice. Intercultural learning is not a separate reality or a set of models and techniques for group work and simulations of culture, it is a world view that respects and promotes diversity, while continuously challenging the status quo and the power structures in society.

Intercultural learning has the potential for social transformation; it is a tool for social change that deals with everyday social and political realities in Europe. It provides a framework for the analysis of one’s own living and working context and ways for young people to assess when the framework of “culture” is useful to under- standing and acting in their context, and when it is less useful.

As an educational approach that has potential for social transformation, intercultural learning equips partici- pants with a set of competences that help them navigate the complex realities of diversity, while focusing on ensuring social justice and human rights for all members of society. We present below a model that highlights the main aspects of a coherent approach in intercultural learning.

Intercultural learning values diversity and promotes a world view in which diversity is rooted in equality and is not seen as an obstacle or used as justification for marginalisation or exclusion. Intercultural learning does not simply mean learning about cultural differences, it means engaging with them and using this knowledge

12. Webster’s New World College Dictionary (2014).

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to create new meanings and narratives. It also means understanding the complexity of cultural groups, the intricate connections and the power relations among them. Respect for cultural diversity is strongly linked with respect for human rights. Promoting the art and traditions of a culture while its members are not able to enjoy their human rights is a superficial way of addressing diversity. At the same time, not being aware of cultural specificities makes it difficult to allow access to human rights, to adapt services to the needs of various groups and to develop authentic relations between different groups in a given society.

Intercultural learning is about multiperspectivity. It acknowledges the fact that there is no single perspective about reality. The way in which people perceive reality is the reality for them and attempting to find an absolute truth is pointless. Shifting perceptions leads to changes of reality. Depending on from where you look at it, the number 6 might look like a 9 and a 9 might look like a 6. Depending on their cultural or socio-economic background, people might look at the same things and see something totally different. And they might all be right. What is considered acceptable or not, good or bad, the “right” values to have, is all a matter of perspectives. Intercultural learning encourages the use of diverse sources of information, to learn about the perspectives of diverse groups in their own voices, in order to get a more nuanced understanding of reality and broader viewpoints. Moreover, intercultural learning works on deconstructing the nation-centred narratives often used in teaching history.

Intercultural learning takes a clear stand against discrimination and other forms of intolerance and social injustice. An important objective of intercultural learning is to develop the abilities of young people to recognise the existence of stereotypes and to understand the impact of prejudices on their lives and on other people’s lives. It offers the means and tools to break the stereotypes and to deconstruct the ethnocentric perspectives. It promotes attitudes and behaviours that address social injustices and foster positive relations. Intercultural learning denies any reminiscent idea of racial superiority or a hierarchical distribution of ethnic groups.

Intercultural learning offers an alternative to multiculturalism. Interculturalism goes beyond simple co- habitation or respecting cultural identities “from a distance”. The intercultural approach facilitates dialogue between different socio-cultural groups as a way to learn about and from each other and to work together for the development of society as a whole. It also offers an alternative to cultural relativism by taking a stand against practices that do not respect human rights instead of simply labelling them as “cultural traditions”.

Intercultural learning promotes equal opportunities and active participation, by giving everyone a voice. Ensuring a ratio of migrants or minorities in order to “satisfy the cultural diversity requests” is not enough. The aim is to create the conditions for people from disadvantaged groups to participate.13 Equal opportunity does not mean equal treatment; it means differentiated treatment with the aim of reaching equality and social justice.

Intercultural learning contributes to the development of solidarity and social cohesion, defined as “the capacity of a society to ensure the welfare of all its members, minimising disparities and avoiding polarisation” (Council of Europe 2004). Intercultural learning processes develop the capacity and willingness of individuals, groups and organisations to co-operate and work together for collective goals by encouraging people to practise empathy and engage in civic, political and cultural participation.

Intercultural learning takes into account the political and structural implications of everyday life. Speaking about intercultural learning without including the power context in which intercultural encounters occur would exclude a big part of our reality. Too often conflicts are characterised as “cultural” by the state and racism is perceived as an individual pathology, while omitting the institutional and political fundaments of racism and discrimination. Tolerance and awareness, even though they are crucially important, are some- times presented as the end game of intercultural learning. This approach assumes that cultural identities are inherently problematic, without taking into account the deep foundations of institutional and state racism (Titley 2009: 80). By addressing structural discrimination and developing strategies for consensus, social action and transformation, intercultural learning contributes to changing the status quo and redressing social justice.

For many people, intercultural learning is instantly associated with conflict. From an intercultural learning perspective, conflict is seen as a source of development. It is regarded as a neutral form of disagreement, which can be an opportunity for clarifying opinions, perspectives and ideas. Whenever people come together, there is potential for conflict. Avoidance of conflict only serves to aggravate the situation and exacerbate the effect or to create parallel societies. Intercultural learning offers the tools for being an active citizen who is able to question and is prepared to be questioned by others, one who listens and is listened to, who has the courage to disagree, but also the willingness to work through a conflict and to reach a common solution.

13. In 1992, Roger Hart developed a model for children’s participation, available here: www.coe.int/en/web/compass/on-the-ladder, accessed 3 October 2017.

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Figure 2: Main aspects of a coherent approach in intercultural learning

Valuing diversity Multiperspectivity Equal opportunities

Combating discrimination, intolerance and social injustice

Alternative to multiculturalism

Solidarity and social cohesion Political and structural implications Conflict transformation

Source: Oana Nestian Sandu

STEREOTYPES, PREJUDICES AND DISCRIMINATION

Stereotypes and prejudices are interrelated concepts that affect our perception of people and our intercultural relations. Intercultural learning aims to equip young people with the tools to identify stereotypes and preju- dices in their own and in other people’s behaviour, to understand how they function and to take conscious steps towards breaking them.

Stereotypes are generalised, oversimplified or exaggerated beliefs about a group of people. A stereotype is “an image in our mind”, that determines how we come to hold certain beliefs about a person, just because that person belongs to a certain group. A stereotype is not a category, but a fixed idea or belief about that category, a cognitive representation of a social group and its members. Stereotypes are born from the need to categorise the world into clear and simple groups. Categorisation saves time in processing information, satisfies the need to understand and predict actions and makes people feel better about themselves (since usually they think their group is better than other groups). At the same time, this simplification of the world leads to a partial and inadequate understanding of it.

When we base our perception on stereotypes, we categorise others based on a few easily identifiable aspects and we believe that most people in that category are similar to each other, but dissimilar to people in other categories. The stereotype acts as a filter of information and attributes a standard of behaviour to all members of a particular group, triggering prejudices and blocking the possibility of a real dialogue between members of cultural groups that perceive themselves as different.

Prejudices are negative attitudes of rejection towards the members of a group, based on the simple fact that we see them as belonging to that group. One can be prejudiced against someone based on characteristics such as perceived race, gender, ability, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, social status, sexual orientation, etc.

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Educational approach

Social transformation

Stereotypes and prejudices make us act like this: we do not see before we define, but we define before we see. Therefore, based on our pre-definition about other people, we unconsciously choose to see only the aspects that confirm our stereotypes and prejudices. It is a selective interpretation of the reality. Stereotypes are mediators, filters through which we see the reality, a shortcut that our brain activates when it has to deal with complex or unknown situations. When we meet people who are different, there is the tendency to choose the preferred knowledge, the knowledge that confirms our stereotypes.

Stereotypes are a way of mentally organising complex information in order to simplify the world and make it more familiar, so that the brain can operate easier. The problem is that once we create the categories and put people in them, there is the human tendency to avoid any information that is new, or does not correspond to our categories. Even though stereotypes about certain groups can be considered positive in terms of the attributes (certain cultures are considered punctual, good at languages or at maths, etc.), they are generali- sations that prevent us from looking at the person behind the category.

While stereotypes are cognitive structures and prejudices are attitudes based on value judgments, discrimi- nation refers to behaviour. It is an unfair behaviour towards the members of a group, based on the prejudices that exist towards that group.

There are different types of discrimination.

f Direct discrimination – Policies and behaviours that intentionally differentiate by cultural belonging and harm certain groups.

f Indirect discrimination – A standard that apparently is neutral, but in fact the ones who use it are aware that a specific group cannot conform to the standard; for example, a certain dress code that is either too expensive for some socio-economic groups or is not in accordance with their religious practices.

f Structural discrimination – A complex form of discrimination in which the state institutions and structures fail to provide adequate services and equal opportunities to people because of their cultural belonging. It persists because state institutions fail to recognise and address its existence and its causes and do not act to repair the historical injustices that were carried out towards specific groups of people.

Many people experience discrimination on more than one ground. This is called multiple discrimination or intersectional discrimination. For example, a disabled Roma woman may